Status of Leader

Usually it is perceived that the status of leader always affect the communications within the group and people with a higher status always intimidate people with a lower status since leadership is the procedure by which a leader, by influence, persuades followers to track their objectives for the team. In simpler words, leadership is an act of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement or a specialized form of social interaction †¦ in which cooperating individuals are permitted to influence and motivate others to promote the attainment of group and individual goals. From each of these perceptions, leadership engages a course of influence whereby the leader has an impact on others by inducing them to behave in a certain manner. (Lussier, 2004) In order to influence the team members, the status of the leader plays very important role. People tend to listen and obey the people from higher status. Leadership involves the possession of qualities that lead others to want to follow the leader's directives, either because they feel obligated to do so, or because they desire to do so In other words, leadership is a characteristic that is voluntarily conferred upon a person by others and involves the ability of a person to engage the active and willing cooperation of followers. Leaders come in each size, figure, and temperament — short, tall, neat, sloppy, young, old, male, and female. However, they all seem to have some, if not all, of the subsequent constituents: †¢ The first fundamental constituent of leadership is a guiding vision. The leader has a clear idea of what one desires to get professionally and personally and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures. If not one knows where one is going, and why, one cannot possibly get there. †¢ The second fundamental constituent of leadership is passion — the underlying passion for the promises of life, combined with a very particular passion for a vocation, a profession, a course of action. The leader loves what he does and loves doing it. Tolstoy said that hopes are the dreams of the waking man. Without hope, we cannot survive, much less progress. The leader who communicates passion gives hope and inspiration to other people. †¢ The next fundamental constituent of leadership is integrity. There are three essential parts of integrity: self-knowledge, candor, and maturity.   (Leadership Qualities, 2005) Hence it is the status of leader always affects the communications within the group and people with a higher status always intimidate people with a lower status References Leadership Qualities, What makes a good leader? Retrieved on September 30, 2006 from http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/leadership-qualities.html Lussier, R.N., ; Achua, C.F. (2004). Leadership: Theory, Application, Skill, Development, (2nd Ed.). Eagan, MN: Thomsen Southwestern. ;

Management Programme Term-End Examination

December, 2005 MS95 (S) : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS Time: 3 hours Maximum Marks: 100 (Weightage 70%) Note : (i) This paper contains two sections, Section A and B. Section A contains five questions. Attempt any four questions from this section. Section B is compulsory (ii) Statistical tables may be provided. (iii) Use of own non-programmable calculator is allowed. SECTION A 1. A local supermarket has experienced a decline in unit sales and little change in rupee value sales.Profits have almost vanished. The chief executive in searching for ways to revitalize the operation, was advised to increase the number of hours the market is open for business. He comes to you for advice in structuring a research problem that will provide relevant information for decision making, Define the research problem taking care to : (15) (a) state the relevant question. (b) enumerate the alternative answers. (c) clearly define the units of analysis and characteristics of interest. 2. A sample may be large yet worthless because it is not random; or it may be random but unreliable because it is small. † Comment upon the above statement and explain the importance of sampling in daily life. (15) 3. What do you understand by factor analysis ? Mention the purpose and uses of factor analysis. (15) 4. What are the seven elements of communication, which are relevant for making a presentation ? Discuss. (15) 5. Write short notes on any three of the following : (15) (a) Objective characteristics and Inferred characteristics (b) Editing of primary data c) Operating and Strategic decisions (d) Ordinal Scale (e) Audio-visual aids in presentation of reports SECTION B 6. Describe the semantic differential scale. Use the semantic differential technique to develop the profile of three television manufacturing companies in India. (20) 7. A random sample of 30 students obtained the following marks in a class test : (20) Test the hypothesis that their median score is more than 5 0. 58 55 25 32 26 85 44 80 33 72 10 42 15 46 64 39 38 30 36 65 72 46 54 36 89 94 25 74 66 29

Five-Point Linguistic Star: A Linguistic Approach Essay

We’ve allowed a natural approach to language instruction to dominate our schools, hoping our English learners †¨Ã¢â‚¬Å"will just figure it out.† (SCOE, 2009) This approach suggested by Kevin Clark proposes that teachers explicitly teach ELL by giving them a set of skills. Teacher will have to teach students not just vocabulary, but the sound system of language, the words and their word parts and meanings, and also rules for structuring sentences grammatically. Teaching students from this perspective can support a deeper understanding of the language. When the concept is thoroughly supported by background knowledge, explanation as to why, activities that strengthen skills, and consistency in lesson structure that follows this pattern, students are more likely to understand the concept and create a platform from which to launch higher level thinking and conclusions on following concepts and content area. Students learn more efficiently when they have prior knowledge o n a presented concept. If the student can link content to a concept that they gained from previous knowledge on from their own unique background or culture, it will inevitably spark interest in that subject area. By sparking interest the teacher is now adding value to the lesson. Since students synonymize interest with value, the teacher would prove effective. Now a sense of purpose has now been infused into the lesson, and the student/students may begin to contribute more. (NCREL, 1990) This approach is rather intriguing, and teachers should be trained in linguistics prior to teaching ELLs. I would learn the subparts of linguistics via a course: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. By learning each subpart in-depth, I can better compose lesson plans and activities that explore those areas for the ELLs to better benefit. Understanding the mechanics of a language is just as important as understanding the language itself, for both teachers and  students. The concept of prior knowledge should not be limited to the students but teachers should utilize this concept for their own effective instruction. If teachers have prior knowledge of the subparts of the English language, as well as knowledge of the diverse cultures he/she is instructing can help the teacher create and blend a comprehensive and student-inclusive lesson plan and curriculum. Prior knowledge influences how the teacher and students interact with the learning materials as both individuals and a group. (Kujawa and Huske, 1995) Prior knowledge assists in segue of appropriate instruction and retention, because it is a foundation from which to build from and facilitates the idea of making sense of the educational experience. As the students are learning from the linguistic perspective, especially under syntax and semantics, students would be primed for grammatical instruction, also. As they learn how, where and when to use appropriate vocabulary, I will insert instruction on main grammatical principles and rules and branch off into further instruction where applicable. I would try to make sound non-confusing connections with the native language grammatical principles, so there is a prior knowledge foundation established in that arena as well. I would also have a grammar day in the middle of the week to review prior concepts and morph new grammar lessons into the lesson plan and utilize formative assessment strategies to see what needs to be reviewed and further defined. References Kujawa, S., & Huske, L. (1995). The Strategic Teaching and Reading Project guidebook (Rev. ed.). Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Restructuring to promote learning in America’s schools, videoconference #2: The thinking curriculum. (1990). Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Sonoma County Office of Education. (2009) Structuring language instruction to advance stalled English learners. Aiming High Resource. Retrieved September 16 2014.

Massage Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Massage - Case Study Example This paper includes definition of massage and fibromyalgia celiac disease. This study will also discuss how massage helps the condition of the patient. Advantages of using massage for patient who have this condition will also discussed. Patient is a forty three year female who has been recovering from fibromyalgia celiac disease spondolosis of lumbar. She weighs 70 kg, medium built body, has bad posture. She has cellulite and adipose deposits. Her stress levels is 10 out of 10 in work and at home with migraine. She is a University Student . At present she is not receiving any medication, no menstrual cycle and she has no children. Her medical operations include removal of coccyx. She has undergone right wrist tendon repair, left hand cyst filled, three nasal operations, 2 laparoscopies and 2 cervical biopsies. Her mobility is bad but gets better with massage. Dates of massages:18-07-2007.23-07-2007.28-07-2007.02-08-2007. In 18-07-2007 full body massage was done to fill the areas where focus for the need of massage and the followings full body massage concentrating in her back and her legs due to fibromyalgia and her lower back pain and legs because of her exercise. Fibromyalgia or FMS are common to female especially during the menopausal stage. It usually occurs between the ages of 40-45 years old. It is not clear if genetic or psychological factors or both are involved. Fibromyalgia comes from the word "fibrosis" meaning formation of scar tissue. It is a chronic syndrome, characterized by musculoskeletal pain, generalized fatigue and a feeling of being tired after sleeping. ( Bolukbasi, 2007 ). The pain is typically wide-spread or generalized. Massage Massage is rubbing the soft tissues of the body, such as the muscles. Massage may be helpful in reducing tension and pain, improving blood flow, and encouraging relaxation. (http://www.webmd.com/balance/tc/Massage-Therapy-Topic-Overview) Massage is considered safe, it is not a cure it will only help to alleviate pain and release tension. Massage for Fibromyalgia Because of pain and tension on muscles that the patient is experiencing if you have fibromyalgia syndrome, they resort on other treatment that will help them to alleviate the pain. One method of releasing tension and removing the pain is by having a massage. This method is safe but should inform the physician about this. Massage Therapy and Bodywork in conjunction with treatment by your doctor, can help provide long-term relief from Fibromyalgia pain. Although the treatment varies according to your individual needs and issues, you will receive a full-body approach that attempts to: Relieve your pain - using techniques such as Neuromuscular Therapy to release painful trigger points and tight muscle tissues. Improve flexibility and motion - using Myofascial Release to lengthen contracted and stuck connective tissues including those around fibromyalgia's tender points. Improved flexibility and motion play a big role in reducing pain and fatigue. Balance Posture and Muscle Tone - Improving posture with Positional Release and Myofascial Release techniques allows tight muscle and connective tissue to

Age of Earth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Age of Earth - Essay Example One of these planets, the Earth, used to be a scorching molten rock that cooled into dry land for 70,000 years – the period indicating how old the Earth was at the time Buffon made the study. On the other hand, Irish Archbishop James Ussher of the 17th century believed that the dates in the Bible are significantly reliable in determining how long the Earth has existed since creation. According to him, secular dates are able to project a trustworthy chronological structure of history where through the Bible, with specific reference to the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, he managed to estimate that the Earth was created on the 23rd of October, 4004 BC. For William Thomson, a British scientist widely known as Lord Kelvin, laws of thermodynamics govern the determination of the birth of the living planet. In particular, he necessitated the application of Fourier’s theory to calculate a date when the Earth, initially in its molten state (7000 Â °F), underwent cooling via conduction and radiation. Upon solving the Fourier’s equation, Thomson discovered the possibility that it could have taken the Earth about 24-40 million years to form as the extreme level of temperature evened out in the process. By the time John Joly proposed the revolutionary sodium method of approximating the Earth’s life during the late 19th century, he conducted a mathematical analysis of the rate at which salt is delivered to the ocean waters. This involved finding the concentrations of salt (by mass) in all oceans from which Joly conveyed the notion that the sum of these concentrations (in grams) divided by the average rate of salt flow (in grams / year) into the ocean equals the total age of the oceans combined which then serves as the basis for the age of the Earth. The technique with sodium enabled Joly to conclude that the Earth is approximately 90 – 100 million years old. A more modern approach in the field of chemistry was employed by the

Cause and Effect on Gasoline Prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cause and Effect on Gasoline Prices - Essay Example   The price of crude oil and how its effect is felt at the pumps is an issue of interest in as far as the price of gasoline gases is concerned. Gasoline is produced from crude oil through distillation process whereby crude oil is heated and fumes captured are converted to various products including gasoline. Thus the cost of extracting crude oil as well as the cost of processing it to produce gasoline will definitely affect the price of its products. For instance, the price of crude constitutes up to half or more of the price of gasoline gallon as suggested by Gupta and Demirbas (73). The rise in the price of crude oil has been driven by the increasing demand for oil globally and the political instability in most of the oil-producing countries according to Gallun (723). Therefore these factors end up directly affecting the price of gasoline. The depreciation of the US dollar when compared to other currencies of other countries contributes to the changes of gasoline gas price. This can be attributed to the fact that when the US dollar changes its value, there is a shift in the demand and costs of countries with different currencies. For instance the dollars depreciation against the Euro by half, the Countries using the Euro pay half more in dollars thus increases the demand. If the Us dollar depreciates, investors in return have to shift their capital there is the rise in price of crude oil gases hence affecting price of Gasoline gas according to Obadia (23). The world wide demand and supply for crude oil affects the price of gasoline gases in different ways. This is because demand and supply of crude oil is influenced by the organization of Petroleum Exporting countries it sets price of oil products produced by its members. This organization also holds the biggest percentage of oil supply in the world and thus it dictates the terms of supply of oil products as suggested by Boyes and Melvin (11). In terms of demand, during the summer there tends be to a lot of gasoline gas demand hence if demand exceeds supply the prices bare likely to rise. It is therefore true that imbalance in supply and demand leads to fluctuation in the price of gasoline gases according to International Monetary Fund (56). For instance if there is fast rise in demand or quick fall in supply due factors such as refinery there may occur a rapid depletion for gasoline gases. The future of oil manufacturing and the contracts made on the future date and price for selling oil in a way affect the price of gasoline gases. On one hand with increasing technology, the future may experience increased demand for gasoline gas compared to the source of this gas and thus prices may end up increasing. On the other hand the increasing alternatives of sources of energy replacing the use of gasoline in future are likely to lead to a decrease in price of the gasoline gases. The future increase in retail gas stations which will still share the market with the existing ones will lead to l ower prices in order to attract customers. Some contracts have been established to decide on the future date and price for selling oil products. For instance a Collar contract is a mini-max strategy assuring producers of oil either a minimum or maximum range of prices for the sale of oil in the future as suggested by Gallup and Frank (221).  Ã‚  

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example One of the key change agents that has in recent times been seen to have grown in critical importance for companies involves technology. Technology has played a major role in redefining nearly all aspects of business in the modern world (Bidgoli, 2010). It has been key in the facilitation of the gradual shift of power into the hands of the general consumer after moving it from the organization. The greatly empowered customers of the modern world are acutely aware of the immense power that they now wield. By utilizing the internet, customers are now able share information that helps bring them close to not only other customers but also to the organization. The shared feedback, information and various opinions are now generally available to one and all at a rate that can be viewed to be almost instantaneous. It is mainly due to this reason that it organizations cannot be able to ignore social media as a medium of communication (Flynn, 2012). Marketing managers have resulted to learn how to properly utilize this medium so as to be able to effectively manage the relationship that their companies and organizations happen to enjoy with their various customers, this is especially so in light of the fact that social media has proven to be both the bane as well as the boom to most organizations. Marketers are now using social networking to provide prompt customer redress. There is a lot of pressure being exerted on companies forcing them to constantly ensure that they are always on their guard due to the fact that customer reactions on the internet tend to generally happen on an instantaneous live basis. In the event that there happens to be any adverse feedback or shared opinion by a single individual dissatisfied customer, the opinion can quickly spread all over the internet and spearhead a campaign that can have the results of critically harming an organization or company. When used effectively, the internet can serve to help an organization to effectively build up it s customer relationship as well as sufficiently strengthen the existing relationship (Kurtz and Boone, 2010). It can greatly serve to help companies in their attempts to reach out to single individual customer a situation which would otherwise have been deemed as being impossible. The Marketing Organizations have not only taken to communicating with their customers on an individual basis, but with the aid of various data mining techniques as well as the effective use of various technologies, they now better understand all their customer’s needs. This has been seen to greatly help customers in the development of customized solutions that have been specifically tailored to try and effectively address the various needs of a specific given individual customer. Companies and organizations such as Airlines, Insurance companies, Banks and various service industry players such as MacDonald’s and Pizza hut have been able to achieve these developments and have built emotional co nnections with their customers by implementing the use of technology and various CRM packages. The various dynamics that are involved in marketing have in

BUS303 MODULE 4 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

BUS303 MODULE 4 - Coursework Example straight forward, and does not give a good idea of the historical background and reason of introducing STP and what role it has played in company’s growth and achievements. In addition to this, point of educating employees about customer relation is not justified properly as customers vary with each other and it is not possible to learn to deal with all of them, just by attending a program. It requires experience and meeting and talking with customers practically. Another thing that can be criticized is the audience which is addressed in the presentation. It is largely focused on the impact and benefits of STP on general employees of the company. Its overall impact on the company and performances of managers and executives are not dealt in detail. If STP is eliminated, than managing strategy and tactics will be changed, which can bring either good or bad results to the sales and reputation of the company. This futuristic aspect of eliminating STP was left untouched. Using examples of companies and organizations, to portray the importance of such trainings, could have made the presentation more lively and captivating. It would have also helped in magnifying the need of sales training programs in a sport goods company. Moreover, the argument that it will push employees from being customer oriented to sales oriented cannot be justified as these programs are also focused on increasing company sales and thinking solutions which can earn more profit for the company. Recommendations of using less company resources in conducting such programs and implementing the technology of online learning to educate new hires about company’s structure and objective could have been included in the presentation. Baldwin, D. (2012). Creating an Environment for Innovation. Retrieved December 26, 2012, from Centre for Simplified Strategic Planning: http://www.cssp.com/CD0902/CreatingInnovativeEnvironment/default.php National Sales Center. (2011). The Overlooked Benefits Of Sales

Challenges and benefits for community health nurses Essay

Challenges and benefits for community health nurses - Essay Example In addition, community nurses educate the general community regarding various diseases, how to prevent them and how to live healthy while suffering from certain diseases. According to Savage et al. (2006) this is because, most people in the community lack the information on how to address the various diseases that affect them. However, community nurses often have various challenges with regards to how they carry basic operations in the job description. One of the main challenges that community nurses face is the exposure to infectious diseases in the course of their work. Community nurses provide healthcare in all social settings including the community, churches, schools and even the homeless. In addition, community nurses address complex health problems including delivering healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDS. Under such circumstances, there is no guarantee as to whether the nurses will be infected with infectious diseases. In addition, various protective measures to prevent such an occurrence are not adequate to address the health safety of community nurses. Community nurses also face the challenge of an unresponsive society. Some communities have strong cultural and religious beliefs that affect their attitude and perceptions regarding the healthcare services. Convincing such people in the commu nity on the importance of accessing healthcare services is a huge challenge for community nurses. Savage, C. L., Xu, Y., Lee, R., Rose, B. L., Kappesser, M., & Anthony, J. S. (2006). A Case Study in the Use of Community†Based Participatory Research in Public Health Nursing. Public Health Nursing, 23(5),

Infosys and levendary cafe case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Infosys and levendary cafe - Case Study Example The functions though many are seemingly well coordinated (though not without challenges) and this is as a result of good and effective leadership starting from the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Howard Leventhal. With the division of the cafà © into functions, allocation of tasks is easier since there are smaller groups to manage and monitor increasing effectiveness and thus making even the cafà © win awards. The cafà © assumes that having a customer-personalized approach would lead to loyalty and eventually the company making profit which has worked since customers enjoy this approach and become loyal to the organization. Levendary had its values in an excellent customer service and this also formed the norm of the cafà ©. The other norms include speed of service and order accuracy. In experimenting with local menu, they won an award for the cheese soup. One of the values of Levendary cafà © is customer’s comfort and loyalty and this has previously been achieved through having a customer-dictated menu, the signature soup and salads and wooden chairs. This has been ignored in some Chinese cities like Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai’s Yu Garden which is challenging the organizational culture of the cafà © (Bartlett and Arar 8). The company management assumes that having higher value added services will make them achieve competitive advantage in the Indian IT market and also start being recognized internationally. Its main values include transparency, having effective leadership, customer delight, integrity and fairness. Its main norm includes having frequent meetings to be updated and brainstorm on new ideas of making their company excel and the other is employee satisfaction. Its main artifact is embedded in its brand equity. Hofstede’s cultural dimension explains four dimensions of cultural values. The most applicable of these values is the individualistic-collectivist dimension which seeks to compare the two when it comes

Social Media Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Social Media - Research Paper Example Social media, however, brings about pervasive and substantial advancements to communicate between individuals, communities, and organizations. Despite the broad used of social media, it has disadvantages as well as the advantages it has brought into communication. This research paper discusses various perspectives concerning social media, its growth, advantages, and disadvantages it has brought to the current generation. Social media is different from industrial/traditional media in a number of ways including, reach, usability, quality, frequency, permanence, and immediacy (Mandiberg, 2012). Studies depict that, there are many positive and negative effects, which stem from social media usage. Such studies show that many people spend more time on social media sites than the time they spend on other internet sites (Gupta, Brooks & Vines, 2013). Simultaneously, the total time that Americans spent on social media networks using computers and portable devices increased by thirty-seven per cent to an approximate of hundred and twenty-one billion minutes in the year 2012, with comparison of eighty-eight billion in the year 2011 (Mandiberg, 2012). ... The mobile food owner was not interested in using social media networks. Afterwards, he decided to give Twitter a try. Using this social media network as an advertising tool, he was able to keep his customers up to date about his new location, new types of food, and special offers of each day. Because of using social media networks to advertise his business, his sales gradually increased since he was able to reach new and a large group of customers more easily. This means that social media is useful to the US people since entrepreneurs are now able to advertise their business at a low cost advertising approach hence increase their sales through offline and online marketing. Many business owners are currently making use of social media networks as a means of advertising their businesses. This is through posting business blogs and uploading product’s images on various social media applications as well as creating business websites. Friedman (2011) tries to show how social media networks have really contributed to the advancement of many businesses across the world. Mangle & Zaveri (2013) article explains how social media has resulted reputation building, career opportunities, and increase of monetary income. The article talks about a case study of how the current large private and public companies employ social media to engage and attract new customers. Students at a certain college use the case study to determine the issues that social media can bring to the world. The students use social media in their project to teach them how to determine goals and for planning a supportive strategy to help them reach their goals. Mangle & Zaveri (2013) try to outline that, social media poses more advantages to

Political Personalities Essay Example for Free

Political Personalities Essay During WWII, Adlolph Hilter was the most destrutive politician and as a German Natzi dictator he was responsible for the estimated deaths of over 11 million people. After fighting in and losing The Great War, Hitler joined the German labor party which began his political career. Giving speeches that fueled anger over Germanys defeat at war by implicating Jews in a conspiracy against the German government. As a child Hitler grew up in Germany with a loving mother and an authoritive and strict father. It is said that his father was never approving of Hitlers ideas and desires and that they had many disagreements including Hitlers passion to persue his interest in art. His grades in school reflect that he was a as a poor learner and he dropped out after his father died at the age of 15. After this he went to Vienna to persue his interest in art but was rejected twice by the art academy. Observation and theories of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy developed by philosopher and psychiatrist Alfred Adler concluded that the desire and goal of every human being is to belong and to feel significant (Adler Graduate School 2012). Adler believes that when such desires are not achieved it can lead an individual to an unhealthy desire for superiority he calles â€Å"superiority striving† What might be the motivation behind this leader’s career choice, according to Adler’s theory? Considering Alders theory of an individuals life goal, Hitlers motivation in his strive for superiority may have been influenced by intense feeling of inferiority and insecureties developed during childhood and family evironment. The discouraging rejection of his passion for art by both his father the art institute guided Hitlers reactions and inspired him to find his own way to overcome these inadequicies. Although childhood events were the most influential, social forces encouraged Hitlers strive for superiortity by the German peoples acceptance and submission to his leadership. Did this leader act out of social interest or for personal gain? What was the long-term outcome of his/her striving? Hitlers advances were efforts of personal gain with no real regard or interest in the German people. His intentions to assume control were only provide benefit to his personal ego and satisfaction How would you apply Adler’s theory of birth order to this personality? Alders birth order theory investigates the ways in which family environment affects personality and behavioral responses. Particularly concerning the persons family status such as in Hitlers life as a child enduring paternal rejection and lack of acceptance and encouragement. Hitlers response was to seek the need for approval through the acceptance in social status which had taken the form of power in superiority and control. Considering Alders theory Hitler being the oldest child with younger siblings.

Natural Language and Programming Language

Natural Language and Programming Language Programming Language Natural language such as English is the language, which is spoken and written for communication. The natural language consists of syntax, semantics, phonetics, etc. All natural languages have some fundamental rules, which are based on the structure of grammar. These grammatical rules are used by people in communication. Programming languages are used for developing computer programs, which enable a computer to perform some operations. The structure of these languages is based on some syntactic and semantic rules. Context-free, lexical and syntactic grammar may be used in Java programming (Dubey, 2006). The differences in the grammar of high level programming languages (e.g. Java) and natural language (e.g. English) are as follows: Natural languages are used for communication between people and programming languages enable human to interact with machines. Programming languages need a high degree of expertise, completeness and precision because computer can not think outside the statement while in speaking, some minor errors are ignored. The programming language syntax is not based on natural language grammar. Thus, the main difference in the grammar of high level language (Java) and natural language (English) is that natural language may be informal in speaking but not in written communication while the grammar of programming language follows specific syntax. Compiler A compiler is a specific computer program that converts the statements written in any high level (such as C, C++, etc) into the language that computer can understand, i.e. machine level language. The original program, which needs to be converted, is known as the source code and the generated machine language program is known as object code. The reason to convert a high level language program into machine code is to make an executable program. The operations performed by a compiler are: lexical analysis, preprocessing, parsing, semantic analysis, code generation and code optimization. Compilers are classified as native or cross compilers. The output of native compiler runs on the computer and operating system where the compiler is running and the output of cross compiler can be run on different platforms. Cross platform compilers are used for embedded systems (Aho, Sethi Ullman, 1986). The compiler group inputs characters into tokens because the original text can not be used by the data structure and it is very necessary to convert the source code into tokens. It makes the source code understandable for the computer. For example, an expression of ‘C’ language: sum=2+3; would be converted into tokens (such as ‘sum’ into IDENT, ‘=’ into ASSIGN_OP, ‘2’ into NUMBER, ‘+’ into ADD_OP, ‘3’ into NUMBER and ‘;’ into SEMICOLON). The compilation process analyses the syntax of programming language. Syntax analysis is further divided into tokenizing (grouping of input characters into tokens) and parsing (attempting to match the tokens to the syntax rules). In the process of compilation, lexical analyzer reads the source code and groups them into tokens (Ivantsov, 2008). A token is a categorized block of text (lexeme). Each token is a single unit of language, for example symbol name, keyword or an identifier. The lexical analyzer processes these lexemes according to their function by providing them meaning. This process is known as tokenization. After tokenizing, the tokens are sent for some other form of processing. The process may be considered a sub-task of parsing input. Parsing is the process of analyzing token sequence with respect to grammatical structure. Now, the data may be loaded for compilation. Thus, the compiler is a computer program, which converts the source code into machine readable form. This compilation process passes through various steps like lexical analysis, tokens, parser, etc. and makes the code available for the computer. References Aho, A. V., Sethi R. Ullman, J.D. (1986). Compilers: Princiles, Techniques, and Tools. New York: Addison-Wesley Dubey, A. (2006, December). Goodness criteria for programming language grammar rules. ACM SIGPLAN . 41(12), 44-53. Ivantsov, R. (2008, January 3). Irony .NET Compiler Construction Kit. Retrieved July 22, 2008, from http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/Irony.aspx

Strategic Changes That Reversed Sainsburys Fortunes Management Essay

Strategic Changes That Reversed Sainsburys Fortunes Management Essay In the last two decades of the twentieth century the UK supermarket chain, Sainsburys, suffered from an almost continuing decline in its corporate fortunes, which its management of the time seemed unable to stop. Not least important of these events was the loss of its competitive position within the UK supermarket sector. From a position of being the market leader by 1995 Sainsburys had relinquished this spot to its rival Tesco (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2005) and even this second position was lost to Asda, a brand that had been strengthened as a result of its takeover by the American giant Wal-Mart.(BBC News, 2006).As a result of the corporations problems, during the early part of this decade it began to look very likely that the Sainsburys brand would either disappear from the UK or be acquired by new owners as investors became increasingly disheartened with the business returns and performance. Justin King, the current CEO of Sainsburys, joined the business in March 2004 (Sainsburys 2005), at a time when, due to lack of competitiveness and poor performance in comparison with rivals, Sainsburys had become a constant target for potential takeover bids (Hutchings 2004). Contrary to expectations at the time of his appointment, during the course of the past five years King has been seen as responsible for the reversal of Sainsburys fortune, which can be evidenced by the fact that a 2007 takeover bid valued the business at  £10.6 billion, more than twice the  £5 billion bid considered three years earlier (Mail online 2009). It is the changes in Sainsburys fortunes that form the focus of this essay. The intention is to both analyse and evaluate the strategic choices the corporation has adopted under Kings leadership in order to improve its response to changes that occur within the industry and its marketplace. Strategic changes at Sainsburys post 2004 Research into corporate strategy, once concerned mainly with the internal operations of the business, has now been extended to include the impact of external forces and events (Johnson et al, 2005). Thus as Johnson, Scholes Whittington (2008) observe, it can be defined as an organisations abilities to renew and recreate its strategic capabilities to meet the needs of a changing environment. In this respect corporate strategy within supermarkets such as Sainsburys, was focused upon the creation of competitive advantage (Porter, 2004a), a position that was deemed as being achieved whenever it outperforms its competitors (Pettigrew, Thomas Whittington, 2002, p.55). However, as Grant (2004) and others have suggested, simply achieving competitive advantage is not sufficient. To sustain its success, a business has to continue to build upon its advantage to ensure is does not lose out to other competitors in the future, a situation which the management at Sainsburys had failed to address prior to 2004. On his appointment as CEO, King reviewed the current business strategy and introduced changes in several key areas as part of his three year programme aimed at turning the business around (Sainsburys 2005). The first task to be faced was to identify the core areas of potential business growth, which was deemed by King to be the UK market. This led to the sale of Sainsburys US supermarket chain and the use of the proceeds to acquire a number of Morrison stores that were sold as a part of regulatory conditions attached to its purchase of Safeway, as well as a planned expansion into the convenience store sector. As King said at the time, this was needed to strengthen our market position and deliver future growth (Food Drink Europe, 2004, para3). The second task was to decide where and how the business should refocus its drive for competitive advantage, which as Grant (2004) indicates, meant using either cost and/or differentiation as the main strategic drivers for success in terms of adding value for the customer and shareholder. It is clear from the latter part of this explanation that to create such an advantage it is important for the Sainsburys brand, to be seen as sufficiently different from those of its competitors so as to establish its own brand identification and customer loyalties (Porter, 2004b, p.9). In other words, as Tyreman (2009 para10) indicates within his study on marketing, the key and essential element of brand design and promotion is for the corporation to ensure that the chosen strategy of differentiation must be unique enough to enable it to stand out from its competitors. This is especially important in a case like Sainsburys which is competing for market share within a UK supermarket and grocery sect or, which is considered by many people to have reached a position of saturation over a decade ago (Q Finance,n.d.para15). In terms of cost, both Tesco and Asda had overtaken Sainsburys in the sector as a result of their low-price strategy. In addition, their quality of service and differentiation was perceived by the customer to be superior to the Sainsburys brand, which meant that Sainsburys new management team needed to develop a strategy that would address both of these issues. In relation to low-cost the business and marketing strategy was changed to concentrate more upon reducing prices. In addition to this impacting upon recognised brand goods, this led to a change of direction, which included the expansion and promotion of its low-price own brand alternatives within its stores, an area where competitors had built a significant advantage. To ensure that this approach did not have an adverse effect upon the financial performance of the business and the value being added for shareholders, this also meant that the business had to introduce a cost reduction and efficiency programme across the supply chain (Porter, 2004a). Improvements were therefore made to the supply chain processes, which included the introduction of new technology aimed at increasing cost efficiency, such as the implementation of IT knowledge and data management systems (Mari, 2009). As an integral aspect of this process the relationship with suppliers, and their influence upon the supply chain, particularly product design, cost and distribution were also re-evaluated in an effort to lower costs and improve delivery to the customer, for example with the adoption of a system geared towards the JIT inventory model (Just in Time). The effect of these changes was to aid the lowering of in-store prices whilst at the same time continuing to retain and grow business value. However, on their own these changes would not provide the change in fortunes required by the business unless they were accompanied by a process that would improve the relationship and brand image that it was promoting and marketing to both existing and potential customers (Wilson Gilligan, 2005). In terms of quality of service, this also meant that the business would require the commitment of its employees. As Sainsburys had learnt, through loss of market share, the relationship that a business builds and develops with its potential customer is essential to the long term success of the business and its ability to expand its share of the market(Lancaster Massingham,2001).As Kotler ( n.d. P.159) observes, the organisation that develops and implements the best tools to enable it to forecast where customers are moving, and to be in front of them, will be the one that gains the competitive advantage from these processes. Having failed to maintain its advantage in this respect, it was apparent that the existing approach to customer relationships at Sainsburys was another area of corporate strategy that King needed to address. Three main strategic changes were made within the business with regard to its relationship with customers. The first of these was to improve the communication process that existed between the business and its potential customer base, so that it could gain the required feedback that would help the business to understand the changing demands and needs of the customer (Lancaster and Massingham, 2001). This was achieved through a programme that included additional market research, which included in-store and external surveys and questionnaires. In addition, the management team was encouraged to spend more time in the corporations stores, talking to customers as well as employees in order to gain a better insight into how the business service and quality was perceived (Blackhurst, 2005). Secondly, driven by the results of this feedback, the business improved its employee training processes, particularly in the area of service quality, with the focus being on improving the customer shoppin g experience within their stores. One crucial element of strategy aimed at improving the customer shopping experience is reliant upon the management of the human resource function (Grant, 2005). In simple terms Human Resource Management (HRM) is defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisations most valued assets-the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives(Armstrong, 2006.p.2.). It is the considered opinion of most academics that the type of relationship that business management has with its employees will have an important effect upon the success of its aims and objectives (Grant, 2005). Therefore, in keeping with other competitors within its own and other retail sectors, Sainsburys has had to review its HR policies and processes as part of the strategic changes required following the appointment of King in 2004. This review included both the internal aspect of human resources as well as the benefits and disadvantages the se will have upon the external business environment. One option that was immediately chosen was to increase the number of employees by 3,000; most were engaged in customer facing positions (Sainsburys, 2005). In addition the internal HR processes were changed. As Armstrong (2006) observes, there is generally considered to be two alterative options to HRM in business. These are the hard approach, which considers the management of employees should focus solely upon the effect that the individual or group of employees have in terms of assisting in the achievement of corporate goals, in other words what value the employee adds to the business. Alternatively, there is the soft approach, which is based upon employee involvement and motivation (Armstrong, 2006). With this approach the business seeks to understand and address the needs of the employee as well, primarily because it is considered that this will improve motivation and, as a result, increase quality and productivity. In Sainsburys it had already become apparent by 2004 that its major competitors, Tesco and Asda, had embarked upon a process of employee involvement which, using an appropriate approach to leadership and team building, was enabling these businesses to improve the success of their respective businesses in the area of human relationship management (Pettigrew et al. 2002). As Armstrong (2006) indicates the chances of successful adoption of a corporate strategy are much improved if the business has developed a relationship with the workforce that encourages involvement and participation at all stages of its development and implementation. It is not surprising therefore, that King and his management team decided the corporation needed to introduce a more robust HR regime and system; one that paid more attention to the importance of employee involvement and satisfaction within the decision making process of the business. Taking into account that it is the business front line employees who have the closest contact with the customer they therefore designed a strategic change that was designed around the soft approach. This change was achieved to a large extent by copying their competitors systems. In other words, they made management more accessible to the employee, involved them to a greater extent in business decisions, through a process of individual store and regional meetings and encouraged the employee to submit innovative and new ideas to their management team at all levels (Sainsburys, 2005). Finally, Sainsburys made significant changes to its approach in relation to the marketing and promotion of the brand. As Lancaster Massingham (2001) rightly observe, when any change in strategy is introduced it is important to communicate that message to the existing and potential customer. Therefore a new style of campaign has been developed by the corporation over the past four years that has concentrated upon delivering a message that focuses upon the low-price and customer service quality of the business offerings and shopping experience. This focused upon two main areas of the new strategy. The first, using a low-price approach, which concentrated on the promotion of its value brand and Meal for  £5, emphasised its commitment to a low-cost approach. The second, using celebrities such as Jamie Oliver to provide advice to customers about meals, using the companys products and portraying the friendliness of its employees, sought to reaffirm and build the business relationship wi th the customer. It is through the introduction of all of these strategic changes, culminating with the development of a promotional campaign, which includes the use of household celebrities that Sainsburys has sought to reposition the brand and increase its competitive advantage over other market players. The intention of this new approach has therefore been to improve its brand image, incorporating its new low-price focus with an improved range and choice of products and services. The objective being to change the customers previously held perception of the business. Impact of the Strategic changes Having analysed and discussed the various improvements that have been introduced at Sainsburys since King became CEO, the question that remains is to assess how positive the impact of these strategic changes has proven for the business and in this respect an evaluation of subsequent results produces mixed results. As will be discovered from the following comments, not all of these are positive. In relation to the change in Sainsburys market share within the supermarket sector, although there has been some improvement in this area resulting from the changes made to the corporate strategy, it still remains in third position (figure 1). This is in spite of the fact that in the past two years Sainsburys has improved its market share of the industry by almost 1% (BBC News 2006). Figure .Market Share Comparison Source: BBC News (2008) What is equally apparent from the decade comparison is that, when judged against its two main competitors, even taking into account recent improvements, it is noticeable that Sainsburys has still lost significant ground, in the case of Tesco by over 12%. It therefore follows that, in order to narrow the gap still further, and indeed to re-secure its position as the second biggest competitor in the sector, Sainsburys will have to continue to develop its strategy in a manner that provides it with a level of competitive advantage that remains superior to that of its rivals. Another aspect to consider in evaluating the success of strategic changes made from 2004 onwards, is the extent to which the strategic changes have delivered on expectations and predictions made at the commencement of the term of the new management team. In part it is these predictions that were responsible for the failure of the takeover bids being made for the business at that time, as investors considered that, if delivered, the return on their investment was likely to be improved. In the CEOs report within the 2005 financial statement, King suggested that the business had embarked upon a three-year programme designed to grow sales by  £2.5 billion by the end of 2007/08 and return Sainsburys to sustainable growth in both sales and profitability.(Sainsburys,2005).The subsequent financial results (figure 2) show that, this has been achieved, if one views this improvement from the 2005 results and, furthermore, that the improvement has been continued in subsequent years and, up to the year end for 2009 at least, seems to be defying the impact of the recent economic and financial crisis. Figure . Sainsburys Turnover 2001-2009 Source: Sainsburys (2005 and 2009) This potential improvement can be measured in another way, namely the performance of the share price for the same period of time. Figure .Sainsburys-10 Year Share Price Source: http://markets.ft.com/ft/markets/interactiveChart.asp It is confirmed from this comparison that, from its lowly position when King was appointed, Sainsburys share performance improved dramatically until around the end of 2007, when a new bidder for the business was rumoured to be occurring (Peston,2007). At that stage its performance almost matched those of Tesco and Morrisons. However, since the 2007 bid was aborted the adverse share performance between Sainsburys and the others has widened considerably, meaning that shareholders value is now a little more than 15% better than it was five years ago. Future Focus and Strategies Since 2004 Sainsburys has adapted and embraced change to secure its survival and prosperity. In todays challenging trading conditions it continues to focus on capitalising on these changes by identifying consumer trends and forecasting where such trends are leading, always with the end goal of securing trading success (Wilson Gilligan, 2005). In this current economic crisis Sainsburys has shown it has managed not only to ride out the recession but to emerge from it a winner with like for like sales in the quarter to January 2010 increasing by 4.2% .Analysts in 2010 are now saying that Sainsburys strong performance shows just how far the supermarket chain has come since March 2004 under King and acknowledge that his strategic changes have broadened the brand appeal of Sainsburys and turned its future around (Hall, 2010). With its future plans to focus on estate development and to step up its on-line resources in both food and non food, the support of its suppliers will be crucial to sustain Sainsburys future growth. To this end in March 2010 a Sainsburys Trade Briefing will be held to give all suppliers the opportunity to ascertain how they can work in tandem with the retailer in the testing year ahead to everyones mutual benefit. Conclusion In conclusion therefore, whilst it would be correct to say that the strategic changes made following the appointment of King have, to some extent led to a reversal of its former fortunes, certainly in respect of the comparison of its own revenue streams, in other areas the improvements have not been as beneficial as investors and the management anticipated. Gains in market share sufficient for the business to recover second position have changed little between 2005 and 2008, which means that the brand image and its promotional message needs to be improved to encourage more customers to choose Sainsburys in preference to other competitors. Similarly the share performance indicates that the business has still not totally convinced the markets that it can sustain its recovery.

Artistic Voice Essays -- Essays Papers

Artistic Voice Authors have a distinct identity that you recognize when you read their work of art. The qualities and aspects of a text that give an author a distinct identity as an artist are known as their artistic voice. Denise Levertov and Anne Sexton both use different themes in their poetry that separate them from other poets. Denise Levertov writes about the unknown and the unsaid in life. Anne Sexton distinguishes herself by writing about her family, loves, and her emotional tragedies. Sandra Cisneros wrote a novel called The House on Mango Street that contained a different setup than most novels. It was written in fragments and the language was straightforward. Cisneros focuses on the importance of freethinking and home. Brian Friel, an author who focuses on Irish issues and concerns, wrote a play, "Dancing at Lughnasa." Denise Levertov chose to write about things that were not readily seen by others. She wrote her poems in free verse and she paced her writing to lead to a climax that contrasted the intensity of her poems. Her artistic voice can be examined in her poem The Ache of Marriage. The ache of marriage: thigh and tongue, beloved, are heavy with it it throbs in the teeth We look for communion and are turned away, beloved, each and each It is leviathan and we in its belly looking for joy, some joy not to be known outside it two by two in the ark of the ache of it. When people think of marriage they think of a wonderful life complete with the white picket fence and kids playing on the lawn. Levertov, in this poem, talks about how marriage is not glorious all the time. In the first stanza she is talking about the physical aspect of marria... ...e one another. At the end of the play, Michael says, "†¦Father Jack was dead within twelve months. And with him and Agnes and Rose all gone, the heart seemed to go out of the house." (70) One of the family's main concern was to lose each other, but they proved themselves to be strong. After they lost three of their family members, they worked even harder to make ends meet. They did not give up; they stayed strong for one another. An author's artistic voice is important because it helps distinguish an author apart from the mainstream of things. Levertov and Sexton focus on different aspects in life to give them a distinct identity. Cisneros uses a different format in her writing in her novel and Friel focuses on Irish culture to distinguish their artistic voice. After reading these works of art, it is clear what point the artist is trying to convey.

pride and prejudice :: essays research papers

A Fight For A dance† It’s the nineteen century, and I am a poor old colored man that doesn’t even have the mind to write this letter because I don’t know how to write well by the lack of my education, and I don’t even want to remember, let me explained this to you in this way so you get it quickly, 90 years ago I was reading this two poems named â€Å"Slavery, a poem† and â€Å"To the Ladies† that I found on one of the books of Ms. Lady Spears (R.I.P), the ex-Madam of the house in which I worked, before her abruptly death caused by her husband. Here they explained that colored people and women in this two poems are compared equally too each other and placed as a race in which men have to control over them and treat them how he wants too. Women during the eighteenth century no matter if she was independent and wealthy, if she wanted to divorce from her husband it was not permitted. Meanwhile slaves no matter how intelligent or respectful and friendly they were, ne ver would be able to be free from their owners. Telling this too you hearts me so much because I am realizing that I was a total coward in permitting Mr. Timberlake treat Ms. Spears how he did it. Ms. Spears was a lovely young talented girl, who always had the desire to dance because it was her inner passion that kept her alive, she always invited me, meanwhile her husband was not in the house, to go and watch her move. We kept doing it during 3 entirely months until one dreadful night Mr. Timberlake catch us. He hitted her so hardly that she was claiming for mercy. I was so shocked by the terrible scene that I didn’t knew what to do. Then with all my strength I stood and Hit him so hard until he became unconscious. Ms. Spears began to say this lines from the poem that filled her with pride and glory to fight for her right and that it was going to be the phrase that was going to inspire many other young girls and slaves too: â€Å"Value yourself, and man despise: You must be proud, if you’ll be wise.† And began to hit him so hard that I thought she was going to kill him. Suddenly the policeman entered the room and stopped her.

Hamlet is a thinker not a man of action Essay

Hamlet’s one mission in the play is to revenge the death of his father by killing Claudius, however his procrastination leads to his untimely death, the deaths of many others in the Danish court and the relinquishment of Denmark to Fortinbras. Hamlet’s first words show a desire of revenge towards Claudius â€Å"A little more than kin and less than kind. † But later in his soliloquy we see that he is actually closer to killing himself, than killing Claudius or the perpetrator: â€Å"O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,† He doesn’t even contemplate killing Claudius; he hopes that the situation will resolve itself, which it never will, showing his unwillingness to act. This soliloquy also shows that he is not the bravest of people, as he cannot tell his mother how he really feels, another restrictive character trait when trying to revenge someone: â€Å"But break, my heart for I must hold my tongue. † In his soliloquy straight after Hamlet’s conversation with the Ghost he seems determine to kill his uncle, â€Å"thy commandment alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain. † The use of the word â€Å"commandment† shows that he will follow the Ghost’s word religiously. This shows that he is resolute, as a man of action would be. However, this is countered almost immediately at the end of the scene â€Å"O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right. † This shows that Hamlet is scared to carry out what he has to do, he would much rather someone else revenge his father than he. The first device that Hamlet uses to carry out his revenge is to pretend to be mad. By this pretence he hopes to draw the attention away of the court away from him so that he can watch and follow Claudius to see if he is showing any signs of guilt. He tells Guildenstern of his madness. â€Å"I am mad but north-north-west. When the wind is / southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. † His stated intention is to gain irrefutable evidence of Claudius’s villainy. He initiates this by visiting Ophelia in a state of undress and handing her a love letter, making Polonius believe that his madness is due to Ophelia’s rejection of him. Hamlet uses his feigned madness to show his true emotions and insult people he doesn’t like: â€Å"You are a fishmonger. † A fishmonger in Elizabethan times could have meant pimp, showing that Hamlet thinks that Polonius is using his daughter to gain favour within the court. Hamlet’s feigned madness does affect Claudius: in the first act he delivers long speeches, but by Act 2 he is reduced to short sentences like â€Å"We will try it. † This is an action, but it is one that allows him to procrastinate. When Hamlet is left alone he laments his weakness and inactivity. An actor could weep at the imagined grief of Hecuba, whereas Hamlet fails to respond to the murder of his father: â€Å"Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, / A broken voice, and his whole function suiting / forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! / For Hecuba! † Hamlet’s principles cause him a great deal of self-criticism: â€Å"Why what an ass am I! This is most brave, / That I the son of a dear father murder’d, / Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / Must like a whore unpack my heart with words/ And fall a-cursing like a very drab,† He curses his inactivity, showing that, although he is a thinker, he would prefer to be a man of action. At the end of the soliloquy he seems resolved to revenge Claudius, the â€Å"Mouse-Trap† play is a form of revenge against Claudius, but again it is not direct revenge, as he is still procrastinating. The fact that he has not confronted Claudius four months after confirmation from the ghost that Claudius is the guilty party shows that he is definitely a thinker. Hamlet’s soliloquy at the start of Act 3 still shows his overwhelming desire to think, particularly about suicide â€Å"To be or not to be†. The fact that he is still has time for soliloquies, and that he is not trying to hunt Claudius down and kill him, shows that he is definitely a thinker. Hamlet shows a lack of self knowledge as he cannot, as he intended in Act 1 sc 5 â€Å"with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love / May sweep to my revenge. † Instead he broods on his father’s death and even when he gets proof from Claudius’s reaction to the Mouse Trap play, â€Å"I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound. † He hesitates and needs further spurring by the ghost in Act 3 â€Å"to whet thy almost blunted purpose. † Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius in Act 3 sc 3, but again he procrastinates, letting himself think about what will happen to Claudius’ soul â€Å"A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. † He doesn’t act, because he thinks that Claudius is praying, cleansing his soul. This would send him to heaven, not hell where he belongs. The irony is that Claudius himself has too much on his conscience and cannot pray, â€Å"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / Words without thoughts never to heaven go†. Hamlet curses himself in a later soliloquy for his lack of action. Hamlet’s first action of physical revenge is to stab Polonius behind the arras. This action shows that he can only do something on the spur of the moment. If he’d had time to think about it, he would have found a way around stabbing the person behind the arras, electing instead to procrastinate. Hamlet meets Fortinbras’ army in Act 4 sc 4, which makes him feel depressed when he compares himself to Fortinbras: the Norwegian Prince is prepared to fight over something of very little value, while he hasn’t yet taken revenge for the murder of his father and the seduction of his mother: â€Å"How all occasions do inform against me, / And spur my dull revenge. † Hamlet does what he always does when confronted with a problem; he has a soliloquy. However, this is his last soliloquy, which could suggest that he is done with thinking now, and will finally carry out his revenge. Hamlet shows another decisive action, in dealing with the betrayal of his one-time friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and with Claudius’ attempt to have him killed on his way to England. He replaces his own name with that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the letter, ensuring that they will be killed in his place. He also Boards a pirate ship so that he can return to Denmark, these are all very decisive actions focused to towards revenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s entrance into Ophelia’s funeral certainly is more action-focussed than his previous actions: â€Å"This is I, / Hamlet the Dane. † His fight with Laertes, declaration of his love of Ophelia and his switch from prose to verse show that he is longer talking his self into lying and misleading others. Therefore he is not thinking as much as he is acting. Hamlet’s next action is to duel with Laertes, not knowing that it has been fixed so that Hamlet will die, but as with most strategies in the play, it does go according to plan: Both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded by the poisoned sword, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, and one of Hamlet’s dying acts is to force Claudius to drink the poisoned wine, which he does with relish, enjoying the power he has, and the fact that he is killing the person who killed his father, seduced his mother, taken his thrown and plotted to kill him twice’ â€Å"Here thou incestuous, murd’rous, damned Dane, / Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? / Follow my mother. † His action here was done purely, without any thought. As he dies Hamlet names Fortinbras as his successor to the throne of Denmark. He admires Fortinbras as a man of action, seeing that that is what his country needs to return stability to it, â€Å"I do prophesy th’election lights / On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice. † The time frame of the play helps to reinforce the impression of time passing. Individuals in the play travel from Denmark to Norway, Poland and England, from the court to the countryside. Contrasting the activity of Laertes and Fortinbras with the prolonged inactivity of Hamlet. As the hero in this tragedy Hamlet doesn’t have one, sole, character flaw that leads to his untimely death. He is a thinker involved in a dilemma that can only be solved successfully by a man of action. His inability to act swiftly and decisively without high motivation in connection with his father’s murder brings havoc to the Danish court, his own death and the death of many others in the court. If he had been a man of action Claudius would have been killed months before.

Discuss the Role of Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggression Essay

Support that serotonin leads to aggressive behaviour has been found, as human and animal research suggest that serotonin levels influence aggression and violent behaviour. There seems to be a negative correlation as low levels of serotonin, increase aggressive behaviour. Although we cannot determine a causal link as the cause of aggression cannot be attributed solely to serotonin. The link between dopamine and aggression is not as clear as with serotonin. Although there does seem to be a relationship between high levels of dopamine and aggression. Dopamine is produced in response to rewarding stimuli such as food, sex and recreational drugs. Research suggests that some individuals try to find aggressive encounters because of the rewarding sensations it brings, caused by increases in dopamine. Researchers have also suggested that people can become addicted to aggression, in the same way that they become addicted to food, gambling, etc. Ferrari et al. made a rat fight for 10 consecutive days. On the 11th day it was not allowed to fight. Researchers found that in anticipation of the fight the rat’s dopamine levels had raised and serotonin levels had decreased. This shows that experience had altered the rat’s brain chemistry, gearing it up for a fight. This supports the idea that both neurotransmitters are involved in aggressive behaviour and suggests a possible cognitive element in aggression i. e. the anticipation the rats experienced seemed to altar the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. It is hard to extrapolate these results from animals to humans as it is unclear whether the influence is the same for both. Hormonal mechanisms such as testosterone and cortisol, are chemicals which regulate and control body functions. It is said that hormone levels affect a person’s behaviour. An example of a hormone which affects body functions is testosterone. This hormone is found in both men and women, but in larger quantities in men. Testosterone makes aggression more likely, but there is not a causal link. Nelson found a positive correlation between levels of testosterone and aggressive behaviour in male and female prisoners. However these levels were not measured during the aggressive act so we cannot be sure whether hormonal levels are a causal factor. Observational studies of children have shown that they tend to become more aggressive once they enter puberty and their testosterone levels rise. Pillay found that male and female athletes involved in aggressive sports have higher levels of testosterone than those involved in non-aggressive sports. Despite these findings we can question this using the basal and reciprocal model of testosterone. Did the male and females have high levels of testosterone and so were more competitive and dominant, therefore enjoying aggressive sports as stated by the basal model of testosterone. Or were the high levels of testosterone in those involved in aggressive sports exerted due to the aggressive sports, as stated by the reciprocal model of testosterone. Whether testosterone causes aggression has not been proved, although it does have an effect on aggressive behaviour. It also plays a big role in encouraging other behaviours i. e. dominance, impulsiveness and competition. These are all adaptive behaviours in human evolution and therefore very important for our survival as species. Despite this, this is a deterministic view of human behaviour. If aggression is completely controlled by neural and hormonal levels then it follows that individuals don’t exert any free will over their actions and that their behaviour is completely determined by their biochemistry. There are many individuals who have high testosterone levels, who may choose not to act aggressively even though they may be provoked. This demonstrates how a person can exert their free will and choose to override biological impulses. By only understanding aggressive behaviour from a biological approach, these explanations can be criticised for being reductionist. Simpson argues that testosterone is just one factor linked to aggression and that the effects of environmental stimuli such as heat and overcrowding have at times been found to correlate strongly. Likewise social psychological theories of aggression, e. g. social learning theory and deindividualisation have also received a lot of research support, for example the studies conducted by Bandura and Zimbardo.

Basic Ideas and Theories of Mass Communication Essay

In the first place, there were many well renowned scholars who contributed immensely towards the development of communication processes, society and their communication relationships, which are still relevant and heart touching. Thus, David K. Berlo developed the source-message-channel receiver (SMCR) theory in the 1960s. His theories emphasized the many factors that could affect how senders and receivers created, interpreted and reacted to a message. While Max Weber Explore his contribution to our understanding of social stratification, classes and status groups from category Sociology in relation to communication. According to him, â€Å"We cannot deny the existence of social structures or system by which people are categorized or ranked in a hierarchy. This people categorization is otherwise known as social stratification. It is a universal characteristic of society that persists over generations. It is a social structure by which social issues and organizational problems arise. In a society, groups of people share a similar social status, and this is known as social class†. ABSTRACT In this work (assignment), I bother most on the contributions, the basic ideas and established notions propounded by both theorists_ D K Berlo and that of Max Weber. And their biography. Q. 1 (a) THE CONTRIBUTION OF DAVID K. BERLO AND HIS BASIC IDEAS ESTABLISHED IN THE THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION Foremost, for a proper focus on communications theory, the Oxford English Dictionary defines communication as â€Å"the imparting, conveying, or exchange of ideas, knowledge, information, etc. We can look up the origin of the word. Communication comes from the Latin communis, â€Å"common.† When we communicate, we are trying to establish a â€Å"commonness† with someone. That is, we are trying to share information, an idea or an attitude. Looking further, you can find this type of definition: â€Å"Communications is the mechanism through which human relations exist and develop.† This broad definition, found in a book written by a sociologist, takes in about everything â€Å"Communications theory then becomes the study and statement of the principles and methods by which information is conveyed. Among key communications theorists were Wilbur Schramm, David Berlo, and Marshall McLuhan. Basically, for a close examination, the major contribution in communication model that I will consider is the SMCR model, developed by David K. Berlo, a communications theorist and consultant. In his book The Process of Communication,6 Berlo points out the importance of the psychological view in his communications model. The four parts of Berlo’s SMCR model are — no surprises here — source, message, channel, receiver. The first part of this communication model is the source. All communication must come from some source. The source might be one person, a group of people, or a company, organization, or institution such as MU. Several things determine how a source will operate in the communication process. They include the source’s communication skills — abilities to think, write, draw, speak. They also include attitudes toward audience, the subject matter, yourself, or toward any other factor pertinent to the situation. Knowledge of the subject, the audience, the situation and other background also influences the way the source operates. So will social background, education, friends, salary, culture — all sometimes called the sociocultural context in which the source lives. Message has to do with the package to be sent by the source. The code or language must be chosen. In general, we think of code in terms of the natural languages — English, Spanish, German, Chinese and others. Sometimes we use other languages — music, art, gestures. In all cases, look at the code in terms of ease or difficulty for audience understanding. Within the message, select content and organize it to meet acceptable treatment for the given audience or specific channel. If the source makes a poor choice, the message will likely fail. Channel can be thought of as a sense — smelling, tasting, feeling, hearing, seeing. Sometimes it is preferable to think of the channel as the method over which the message will be transmitted: telegraph, newspaper, radio, letter, poster or other media. Kind and number of channels to use may depend largely on purpose. In general, the more you can use and the more you tailor your message to the people â€Å"receiving† each channel, the more effective your message. Receiver becomes the final link in the communication process. The receiver is the person or persons who make up the audience of your message. All of the factors that determine how a source will operate apply to the receiver. Think of communication skills in terms of how well a receiver can hear, read, or use his or her other senses. Attitudes relate to how a receiver thinks of the source, of himself or herself, of the message, and so on. The receiver may have more or less knowledge than the source. Sociocultural context could be different in many ways from that of the source, but social background, education, friends, salary, culture would still be involved. Each will affect the receiver’s understanding of the message. Messages sometimes fail to accomplish their purpose for many reasons. Frequently the source is unaware of receivers and how they view things. Certain channels may not be as effective under certain circumstances. Treatment of a message may not fit a certain channel. Or some receivers simply may not be aware of, interested in, or capable of using certain available messages. In short, Berlo: Several important ideas, notions and factors established must be considered relating to source, message, channel, and receiver. Q. 1. (b) TRACE THE BIOGRAPHY OF DAVID K. BERLO D. K. Berlo in history. This caption attempts to give an insight in to the biography of the eminent scholar whose communication ideologies, philosophy and notions cannot be overlooked in the field of mass communication_ journalism. Biographical information: In 1955, David K. Berlo, at the age of 29, received his doctorate degree in the study of communication from the University of Illinois. Berlo was a student of Wilbur Schramm, who sat on the doctoral committee. Schramm, whose theories of communication are well known, was responsible for the creation of the first communication program at the graduate level which was an entity separate from speech and mass communications. Dean Gordon Sabine, also sat on the committee, and the following day offered Berlo an assistant professorship position and the chair of the newly created Department of General Communication Arts, at his Michigan State University (MSU) (Rogers, 2001). In our trivial pursuit, it was discovered that, Berlo, being many years younger than his colleagues and some of his students, perceived himself to be in need of communicating an air of permanence and maturity, so that his position, and that of the newly formed department, would be taken seriously. To this end, he deliberately gained weight†¦up to 270 pounds of body mass, dressed in dark, fancy suits, and began to act the part of the chairperson of a more well-established department (Rogers, 2001). It must have worked, because he was able to successfully establish, at Michigan State, one of our country’s first undergraduate majors in communication. He functioned in the role of educator, author, and communication department chair at MSU for 14 years, from the department’s inception in 1957 through 1971. In 1960 he wrote the textbook which was implemented in his undergraduate classes, The Process of Communication. He taught an excellent doctoral level core course in research methods and statistics. He was a strong leader, excellent educator, and advocate for the field of communication study. He continued to research and develops his SMCR theory of communication and information. In it he stressed the importance of the perception of the source in the â€Å"eye† of the receiver and also the channel(s) by which the message is delivered. During his final 3 years at Michigan State, it is said, that he seemed to lose interest in his job. He became county chairperson of the Republican Party and was passed over for the position of Dean of the College of Communication Arts (Rogers, 2001). In 1971 he became President of Illinois State University, but resigned in 1973 when an investigation took place to uncover whether or not he had spent unauthorized funds for the completion of the presidential house (Plummer, 2005). He completed his career working as a corporate consultant in St. Petersburg, Florida. Q. 2. (a) GIVE SOME ESTABLISHED NOTIONS OF MAN AND SOCIETY PROPOUNDED BY MAX WEBER. Max Weber was one of the founding figures of sociology. His work is important to students of communication for several reasons, including his methodological and theoretical innovations as well as a diversity of useful concepts and examples for the analysis of social behaviour, economic organization and administration, authority, leadership, culture, society, and politics. Some of his greatest achievements, notions, ideologies, philosophy, and the experiences that guided his convictions he established, which also characterized his stand and position; thus, can be seen as highlighted in the following contributions outlined: * Max Weber’s work provides an example of historical and comparative social science that successfully negotiated between attention to theoretical concepts and empirical details. Rather than concluding an investigation with a generalization or theoretical claim—that all economic behaviour is rational, for example—Weber would use the concept of ra tional behaviour as a comparison point in conducting his research. * Weber’s work provides the origin of action theory as such. Weber defines action as meaningfully oriented behaviour, and takes it to be the fundamental unit of sociological investigation. This is crucially important for communication studies, for it defines a model of social science distinct from behaviourism. * How could Weber claim a scientific approach to motives and meanings, which cannot be directly observed? His resolution of this problem has been widely admired and imitated. On the one hand, he combined logic, empathy, and interpretation to construct ideal types for the analysis of historical cases. He constructed, for example, idealtype models of how the perfectly rational or perfectly traditional actor would make choices in ideal circumstances. These expectations would then be compared with what real people did in actual circumstances. When historical actors deviated from the ideal types, Weber did not take that as evidence of their cognitive shortcomings (their irra tionality, for example) but as clues to additional concepts he needed to develop for further analysis. * Working from the other direction, he interpreted historical records empathetically, striving to identify how the actors in a particular situation could have seen their action as a rational response to their circumstances. In this way, he was able to construct models of a range of types of rational action, opening up his theory to a greater range of human situations than either the behaviorists or the economists. Prayer, for example, as Weber pointed out, is rational behavior from the point of view of the faithful. * Weber’s work also provides many useful concepts and examples for communication studies, in addition to the wide-ranging importance of his action theory and his methodological innovations. * His analysis of economic organization and administration is the standard model of rational organization in the study of organizational communication. His studies of authority and leadership are important to students of mass communication, and of both organizational and political communication. * His studies in the sociology of religion explore the range of possibilities in the relation between ideas and social structures, a problem that continues to be at the heart of cultural studies. * His contrasts of rational and traditional and his analysis of modern bureaucracy are starting points for analysis of modern industrial-commercial culture and communication and the effect of the media on culture and politics. * Weber distinguished three ideal types of political leadership (alternatively referred to as three types of domination, legitimisation or authority): 1. Charismatic domination (familial and religious), 2. Traditional domination (patriarchs, patrimonialism, feudalism) and 3. Legal domination (modern law and state, bureaucracy). In his view, every historical relation between rulers and ruled contained such elements and they can be analysed on the basis of this tripartite distinction. He notes that the instability of charismatic authority forces it to â€Å"routinise† into a more structured form of authority. In a pure type of traditional rule, sufficient resistance to a ruler can lead to a â€Å"traditional revolution†. The move towards a rational-legal structure of authority, utilising a bureaucratic structure, is inevitable in the end. Thus this theory can be sometimes viewed as part of the social evolutionism theory. This ties to his broader concept of rationalisation by suggesting the inevitability of a move in this direction. * Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge. * Weber described many ideal types of public administration and government in his masterpiece Economy and Society (1922). His critical study of the bureaucratisation of society became one of the most enduring parts of his work. It was Weber who began the studies of bureaucracy and whose works led to the popularisation of this term. Many aspects of modern public administration. Social stratification * Weber also formulated a three-component theory of stratification, with Social class, Social status and Political party as conceptually distinct elements. * Social class is based on economically determined relationship to the market (owner, renter, employee etc.). * Status class is based on non-economical qualities like honour, prestige and religion. * Party class refers to affiliations in the political domain. * All three dimensions have consequences for what Weber called â€Å"life chances† (opportunities to improve one’s life). This context consisted of the political problems engendered by the bourgeois status-group of the city, without which neither Judaism, nor Christianity, nor the developments of Hellenistic thinking are conceivable. According to Weber, * He argued that Judaism, early Christianity, theology, and later the political party and modern science, were only possible in the urban context that reached a full development the West alone. =>He also saw in the history of medieval European cities the rise of a unique form of â€Å"non-legitimate domination† that successfully challenged the existing forms of legitimate domination (traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal) that had prevailed until then in the Medieval world. This new domination according to him, was based on the great economic and military power wielded by the organised community of city-dwellers (â€Å"citizens†). Weber’s ideas â€Å"form the heart of what is commonly known as structuralism† (Littlejohn). Weber defines organization as follows: â€Å"An ‘organization’ is a system of continuous, purposive activity of a specified kind. A ‘corporate organization’ is an associative social relationship characterized by an administrative staff devoted to such continuous purposive activity† (Weber, Social and Economic Organizations, p. 151.). Weber’s notion of bureaucracy involves power, authority, and Legitimacy. Power â€Å"is the ability of a person in any social relation to Influence others and to overcome resistance. Power in this sense is fundamental to most social relationships† (Littlejohn). Q. 2. (b) GIVE THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAX WEBER MAX WEBER’S EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY BACKGROUND Weber was born in 1864, in Erfurt, Thuringia.[3] He was the eldest of the seven children of Max Weber Sr., a wealthy and prominent civil servant and member of the National Liberal Party, and his wife he was buckin’ Helene (Fallenstein), who partly descended from French Huguenot immigrants and held strong moral absolutist ideas.[3][9] Weber Sr.’s involvement in public life immersed his home in both politics and academia, as his salon welcomed many prominent scholars and public figures.[3] The young Weber and his brother Alfred, who also became a sociologist and economist, thrived in this intellectual atmosphere. Weber’s 1876 Christmas presents to his parents, when he was thirteen years old, were two historical essays entitled â€Å"About the course of German history, with special reference to the positions of the Emperor and the Pope,† and â€Å"About the Roman Imperial period from Constantine to the migration of nations.†[10] In class, bored and unimpressed with the teachers – who in turn resented what they perceived as a disrespectful attitude – he secretly read all forty volumes of Goethe.[11][12] Before entering the university, he would read many other classical works.[12] Over time, Weber would also be significantly affected by the marital tension between his father, â€Å"a man who enjoyed earthly pleasures,† and his mother, a devout Calvinist â€Å"who sought to lead an ascetic life.† Max Weber and his brothers, Alfred and Karl, in 1879 MAX WEBER’S EDUCATION At this juncture, Weber was in 1882, enrolled in the University of Heidelberg as a law student. After a year of military service he transferred to University of Berlin. After his first few years as a student, during which he spent much time â€Å"drinking beer and fencing,† Weber would increasingly take his mother’s side in family arguments and grew estranged from his father. Simultaneously with his studies, he worked as a junior barrister. In 1886 Weber passed the examination for Referenda, comparable to the bar association examination in the British and American legal systems. Throughout the late 1880s, Weber continued his study of law and history. He earned his law doctorate in 1889 by writing a dissertation on legal history entitled ‘Development of the Principle of Joint Liability and the Separate Fund in the Public Trading Company out of Household and Trade Communities in Italian Cities.’ This work was used as part of a longer work ‘On the History of Trading Companies in the Middle Ages, based on South-European Sources,’ published in the same year. Two years later, Weber completed his Habilitationsschrift, Roman Agrarian History and its Significance for Public and Private Law, working with August Meitzen. Having thus become a Privatdozent, Weber joined the University of Berlin’s faculty, lecturing and consulting for the government. References Reinhard Bendix and Guenther Roth Scholarship and Partisanship: Essays on Max Weber, University of California Press, 1971, p. 244. â€Å"Max Weber.† Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online. 20 April 2009. Britannica.com â€Å"Max Weber†. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 17 February 2010. Max Weber; Hans Heinrich Gerth; Bryan S. Turner (7 March 1991). From Max Weber: essays in sociology. Psychology Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-415-06056-1. Retrieved 22 March 2011. D K Berlo. The Process of Communication.

Last Sacrifice Chapter Seventeen

THE INTERROGATION DIDN'T go so well. Oh, sure, we made plenty of threats and used the stakes as torture devices, but not much came of it. Dimitri was still scary when dealing with Sonya, but after his breakdown with Donovan, he was careful not to fall into that berserk rage again. This was healthier for him in the long run but not so good for scaring up answers out of Sonya. It didn't help matters that we didn't exactly have a concrete question to ask her. We mostly had a series to throw at her. Did she know about another Dragomir? Was she related to the mother? Where were the mother and child? Things also went bad when Sonya realized we needed her too much to kill her, no matter how much silver stake torture we did. We'd been at it for over an hour and were getting exhausted. At least, I was. I leaned against a wall near Sonya, and though I had my stake out and ready, I was relying on the wall a bit more than I liked to admit to keep me upright. None of us had spoken in a while. Even Sonya had given up on her snarling threats. She simply waited and stayed watchful, undoubtedly planning for escape, probably figuring we'd tire before she did. That silence was scarier than all the threats in the world. I was used to Strigoi using words to intimidate me. I'd never expected the power simply being quiet and staring menacingly could have. â€Å"What happened to your head, Rose?' asked Dimitri, suddenly catching a glimpse of it. I'd been tuning out a little and realized he was talking to me. â€Å"Huh?' I brushed aside hair that had been obscuring part of my forehead. My fingers came away sticky with blood, triggering vague memories of crashing into the table. I shrugged, ignoring the dizziness I'd been feeling. â€Å"I'm fine.' Dimitri gave Sydney the quickest of glances. â€Å"Go lay her down and clean it up. Don't let her sleep until we can figure out if it's a concussion.' â€Å"No, I can't,' I argued. â€Å"I can't leave you alone with her †¦' â€Å"I'm fine,' he said. â€Å"Rest up so that you can help me later. You're no good to me if you're just going to fall over.' I still protested, but when Sydney gently took my arm, my stumbling gave me away. She led me to the house's one bedroom, much to my dismay. There was something creepy about knowing I was in a Strigoi's bed–even if it was covered with a blue-and- white floral quilt. â€Å"Man,' I said, lying back against the pillow once Sydney had cleaned my forehead. Despite my earlier denial, it felt great to rest. â€Å"I can't get used to the weirdness of a Strigoi living in a place so †¦ normal. How are you holding up?' â€Å"Better than you guys,' said Sydney. She wrapped her arms around herself and eyed the room uncomfortably. â€Å"Being around Strigoi is starting to make you guys seem not so bad.' â€Å"Well, at least some good's come out of this,' I remarked. Despite her joke, I knew she had to be terrified. I started to close my eyes and was jolted awake when Sydney poked my arm. â€Å"No sleep,' she chastised. â€Å"Stay up and talk to me.' â€Å"It's not a concussion,' I muttered. â€Å"But I suppose we can go over plans to get Sonya to talk.' Sydney sat at the foot of the bed and grimaced. â€Å"No offense? But I don't think she's going to crack.' â€Å"She will once she's gone a few days without blood.' Sydney blanched. â€Å"A few days?' â€Å"Well, whatever it takes to–‘ A spike of emotion flitted through the bond, and I froze. Sydney jumped up, her eyes darting around as though a group of Strigoi might have burst into the room. â€Å"What's wrong?' she exclaimed. â€Å"I have to go to Lissa.' â€Å"You're not supposed to sleep–‘ â€Å"It's not sleeping,' I said bluntly. And with that, I jumped away from Sonya's bedroom and into Lissa's perspective. She was riding in a van with five other people whom I immediately recognized as other royal nominees. It was an eight-person van and also included a guardian driver with another in the passenger seat who was looking back at Lissa and her companions. â€Å"Each of you will be dropped off in a separate location on the outskirts of a forest and given a map and compass. The ultimate goal is for you to reach the destination on the map and wait out the daylight until we come for you.' Lissa and the other nominees exchanged glances and then, almost as one, peered out the van's windows. It was almost noon, and the sunlight was pouring down. â€Å"Waiting out the daylight' was not going to be pleasant but didn't sound impossible. Idly, she scratched at a small bandage on her arm and quickly stopped herself. I read from her thoughts what it was: a tiny, barely noticeable dot tattooed into her skin. It was actually similar to Sydney's: blood and earth, mixed with compulsion. Compulsion might be taboo among Moroi, but this was a special situation. The spell in the tattoo prevented the candidates from revealing the monarch tests to others not involved with the process. This was the first test. â€Å"What kind of terrain are you sending us to?' demanded Marcus Lazar. â€Å"We're not all in the same physical shape. It's not fair when some of us have an advantage.' His eyes were on Lissa as he spoke. â€Å"There is a lot of walking,' said the guardian, face serious. â€Å"But it's nothing that any candidate–of any age–shouldn't be able to handle. And, to be honest, part of the requirements for a king or queen is a certain amount of stamina. Age brings wisdom, but a monarch needs to be healthy. Not an athlete by any means,' added the guardian quickly, seeing Marcus start to open his mouth. â€Å"But it's no good for the Moroi to have a sickly monarch elected who dies within a year. Harsh, but true. And you also need to be able to endure uncomfortable situations. If you can't handle a day in the sun, you can't handle a Council meeting.' I think he intended that as a joke, but it was hard to tell since he didn't smile. â€Å"It's not a race, though. Take your time getting to the end if you need it. Marked along the map are spots where certain items are hidden–items that'll make this more bearable, if you can decipher the clues.' â€Å"Can we use our magic?' asked Ariana Szelsky. She wasn't young either, but she looked tough and ready to accept a challenge of endurance. â€Å"Yes, you can,' said the guardian solemnly. â€Å"Are we in danger out there?' asked another candidate, Ronald Ozera. â€Å"Aside from the sun?' â€Å"That,' said the guardian mysteriously, â€Å"is something you'll need to learn for yourselves. But, if at any time you want out †¦' He produced a bag of cell phones and distributed them. Maps and compasses followed. â€Å"Call the programmed number, and we'll come for you.' Nobody had to ask about the hidden message behind that. Calling the number would get you out of the long day of endurance. It would also mean you'd failed the test and were out of the running for the throne. Lissa glanced at her phone, half-surprised there was even a signal. They'd left Court about an hour ago and were well into the countryside. A line of trees made Lissa think they were nearing their destination. So. A test of physical endurance. It wasn't quite what she'd expected. The trials a monarch went through had long been shrouded in mystery, gaining an almost mystical reputation. This one was pretty practical, and Lissa could understand the reasoning, even if Marcus didn't. It truly wasn't an athletic competition, and the guardian had a point in saying that the future monarch should possess a certain level of fitness. Glancing at the back of her map, which listed the clues, Lissa realized this would also test their reasoning skills. All very basic stuff–but essential to ruling a nation. The van dropped them off one by one at different starting points. With each departing candidate, Lissa's anxiety grew. There's nothing to worry about, she thought. I've just got to sit through a sunny day. She was the next to last person dropped off, with only Ariana remaining behind. Ariana patted Lissa's arm as the van door opened. â€Å"Good luck, dear.' Lissa gave her a quick smile. These tests might all be a ruse on Lissa's part, but Ariana was the real deal, and Lissa prayed the older woman could get through this successfully. Left alone as the van drove away, unease spread through Lissa. The simple endurance test suddenly seemed much more daunting and difficult. She was on her own, something that didn't happen very often. I'd been there for most of her life, and even when I'd left, she'd had friends around her. But now? It was just her, the map, and the cell phone. And the cell phone was her enemy. She walked to the edge of the forest and studied her map. A drawing of a large oak tree marked the beginning, with directions to go northwest. Scanning the trees, Lissa saw three maples, a fir, and–an oak. Heading toward it, she couldn't help a smile. If anyone else had botanical landmarks and didn't know their plants and trees, they could lose candidacy right there. The compass was a classic one. No digital GPS convenience here. Lissa had never used a compass like this, and the protective part of me wished I could jump in and help. I should have known better, though. Lissa was smart and easily figured it out. Heading northwest, she stepped into the woods. While there was no clear path, the forest's floor wasn't too covered with overgrowth or obstacles. The nice part about being in the forest was that the trees blocked out some of the sun. It still wasn't an ideal Moroi condition, but it beat being dropped in a desert. Birds sang, and the scenery was lush and green. Keeping an eye out for the next landmark, Lissa tried to relax and pretend she was simply on a pleasant hike. Yet †¦ it was difficult to do that with so much on her mind. Abe and our other friends were now in charge of working and asking questions about the murder. All of them were asleep right now–it was the middle of the Moroi night–but Lissa didn't know when she'd return and couldn't help resenting this test for taking up her time. No, wasting her time. She'd finally accepted the logic behind her friends' nomination–but she still didn't like it. She wanted to actively help them. Her churning thoughts almost led her right past her next landmark: a tree that had fallen ages ago. Moss covered it, and much of the wood was rotten. A star on the map marked it as a place with a clue. She flipped over the map and read: I grow and I shrink. I run and I crawl. Follow my voice, though I have none at all. I never do leave here, but I travel around– I float through the sky and I creep through the ground. I keep my cache in a vault although I have no wealth, Seek out my decay to safeguard your health. Um. My mind went blank right about then, but Lissa's spun. She read it over and over again, examining the individual words and how each line played off the other. I never do leave here. That was the starting point, she decided. Something permanent. She looked around, considered the trees, then dismissed them. They could always be cut and removed. Careful not to stray too far from the fallen tree, she circled the area searching for more. Everything was theoretically transient. What stayed? Follow my voice. She came to a halt and closed her eyes, absorbing the sounds around her. Mostly birds. The occasional rustle of leaves. And– She opened her eyes and walked briskly to her right. The sound she'd heard grew louder, bubbling and trickling. There. A small creek ran through the woods, hardly noticeable. Indeed, it seemed too tiny for the streambed carved out around it. â€Å"But I bet you grow when it rains,' she murmured, uncaring that she was speaking to a stream. She looked back down at the clue, and I felt her clever mind rapidly piece it all together. The stream was permanent–but traveled. It changed size. It had a voice. It ran in deep parts, crawled when there were obstacles. And when it evaporated, it floated in the air. She frowned, still puzzling the riddle aloud. â€Å"But you don't decay.' Lissa studied the area once more, uneasily thinking decay could apply to any plant life. Her gaze moved past a large maple tree and then jerked back. At its base grew a clump of brown and white mushrooms, several wilting and turning black. She hurried over and knelt down, and that was when she saw it: a small hole dug into the earth nearby. Leaning closer, she saw a flash of color: a purple drawstring bag. Triumphantly, Lissa pulled it out and stood up. The bag was made of canvas and had long strings that would allow it to hang over her shoulder as she walked. She opened the bag and peered inside. There, tucked inside the fluffy and fuzzy lining, was the best thing of all: a bottle of water. Until now, Lissa hadn't realized how hot and dehydrated she'd grown–or how wearying the sun was. The candidates had been told to wear sturdy shoes and practical clothing but hadn't been allowed any other supplies. Finding this bottle was priceless. Sitting on the log, she took a break, careful to conserve her water. While the map indicated a few more clues and â€Å"rewards,' she knew she couldn't necessarily count on any more helpful bags. So, after several minutes' rest, she put away the water and slung the little tote over her shoulder. The map directed her due west, so that was the way she went. The heat beat on her as she continued her walk, forcing her to take a few more (conservative) water breaks. She kept reminding herself it wasn't a race and that she should take it easy. After a few more clues, she discovered the map wasn't quite to scale, so it wasn't always obvious how long each leg of the hike was. Nonetheless, she was delighted to successfully solve each clue, though the rewards became more and more baffling. One of them was a bunch of sticks sitting on a rock, something she would have sworn was a mistake, but someone civilized had clearly tied the bundle together. She added that into her bag, along with a neatly folded green plastic tarp. By now, sweat was pouring off her, and rolling up the sleeves of her button-down cotton shirt did little to help. She took more frequent breaks. Sunburn became a serious concern, so it was a huge relief when her next clue led to a bottle of sunscreen. After a couple hours of battling the intense summer heat, Lissa became so hot and tired that she no longer had the mental energy to be annoyed about missing out on whatever was happening at Court. All that mattered was getting to the end of this test. The map showed two more clues, which she took as a promising sign. She would reach the end soon and then could simply wait for someone to get her. A flash of realization hit her. The tarp. The tarp was a sun block, she decided. She could use it at the end. This cheered her up, as did the next prize: more water and a floppy, wide-brimmed hat that helped keep the sunlight from her face. Unfortunately, after that, what appeared to be a short leg of the trip turned out to be twice as long as she expected. By the time she finally reached the next clue, she was more interested in taking a water break than digging out whatever else the guardians had left her. My heart went out to her. I wished so, so badly that I could help. That was my job, to protect her. She shouldn't be alone. Or should she? Was that also part of the test? In a world where royals were almost always surrounded by guardians, this solitude had to be a total shock. Moroi were hardy and had excellent senses, but they weren't built for extreme heat and challenging terrain. I could have probably jogged the course easily. Admittedly, I wasn't sure I would have had Lissa's deductive skills in figuring out the clues. Lissa's last reward was flint and steel, not that she had any idea what they were. I recognized them instantly as the tools of a fire-making kit but couldn't for the world figure out why she'd need to build a fire on a day like this. With a shrug, she added the items to her bag and kept going. And that's when things started to get cold. Really cold. She didn't entirely process it at first, mainly because the sun was still shining so brilliantly. Her brain said what she felt was impossible, but her goose bumps and chattering teeth said otherwise. She rolled her sleeves back down and quickened her pace, wishing that the sudden cold had at least come with cloud cover. Walking faster and exerting herself more helped heat her body. Until it began to rain. It started off as a mist, then changed to drizzle, and finally turned into a steady curtain of water. Her hair and clothing became soaked, making the cold temperature that much worse. Yet †¦ the sun still shone, its light an annoyance to her sensitive skin but offering no warmth in compensation. Magic, she realized. This weather is magical. It was part of the test. Somehow, Moroi air and water magic users had united to defy the hot, sunny weather. That was why she had a tarp–to block the sun and the rain. She considered getting it out now and wearing it like a cloak but quickly decided to wait until she reached the endpoint. She had no idea how far away that really was, though. Twenty feet? Twenty miles? The chill of the rain crept over her, seeping under her skin. It was miserable. The cell phone in the bag was her ticket out. It was barely late afternoon. She had a long time to wait before this test ended. All she had to do was make one call †¦ one call, and she'd be out of this mess and back to working on what she should be at Court. No. A kernel of determination flared up within her. This challenge was no longer about the Moroi throne or Tatiana's murder. It was a test she would take on for herself. She'd led a soft and sheltered life, letting others protect her. She would endure this on her own–and she would pass. This determination took her to the map's end, a clearing ringed in trees. Two of the trees were small and close enough together that Lissa thought she might be able to drape the tarp into some sort of reasonable shelter. With cold, fumbling fingers, she managed to get it out of the bag and unfold it to its full size–which was fortunately much larger than she'd suspected. Her mood began to lift as she worked with the tarp and figured out how to create a small canopy. She crawled inside once it was complete, glad to be out of the falling rain. But that didn't change the fact that she was wet. Or that the ground was also wet– and muddy. The tarp also didn't protect her against the cold. She felt a flash of bitterness, recalling the guardians saying magic was allowed in this test. She hadn't thought magic would be useful at the time, but now, she could certainly see the perks of being a water user to control the rain and keep it off her. Or, better yet: being a fire user. She wished Christian was with her. She would have welcomed the warmth of both his magic and his embrace. For this kind of situation, spirit seriously sucked–unless, perhaps, she got hypothermia and needed to try to heal herself (which never worked as well as it did on other people). No, she decided. There could be no question: water and fire users had the advantage in this test. That's when it hit her. Fire! Lissa straightened up from where she'd been huddled. She hadn't recognized the iron and flint for what they were, but now, vague recollections of fire-making were coming back to her. She'd never been taught those skills directly but was pretty sure striking the stones together would make a spark–if she only had dry wood. Everything out there was soaked†¦ . Except for the bundle of sticks in her bag. Laughing out loud, she untied the sticks and set them in a place shielded from the rain. After arranging them in what seemed like a campfire-friendly pattern, she tried to figure out what to do with the steel and flint. In movies, she thought she'd seen people just hit them to make sparks fly. So, that's what she did. Nothing happened. She tried three more times, and her earlier excitement gave way to spirit-darkened frustration. I pulled some of that from her, needing her to stay focused. On the fourth try, a spark flew off and faded away–but it was what she needed to understand the principle. Before long she could easily make sparks, but they did nothing when they landed on the wood. Up and down: her mood was a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment. Don't give up, I wanted to say as I drew off more negativity. Don't give up. I also wanted to give her a lesson on kindling, but that was pushing my limits. Watching her, I was beginning to realize how much I underestimated Lissa's intelligence. I knew she was brilliant, but I always imagined her being helpless in these situations. She wasn't. She could reason things out. That tiny spark couldn't penetrate the wood of the sticks. She needed a bigger flame. She needed something the sparks could ignite. But what? Surely nothing in this waterlogged forest. Her eyes fell on the map poking out of her bag. She hesitated only a moment before ripping and shredding the paper into a pile on top of the twigs. Supposedly, she'd reached the end of the hike and didn't need the map. Supposedly. But it was too late now, and Lissa pushed forward with her plan. First, she pulled out some of the bag's fluffy lining, adding the bits of fuzz to the paper. Then she took up the flint and steel again. A spark jumped out and immediately caught a piece of the paper. It flared orange before fading out, leaving a wisp of smoke. She tried again, leaning forward to gently blow on the paper when the spark landed. A tiny flame appeared, caught a neighboring shred, and then faded. Steeling herself up, Lissa tried a final time. â€Å"Come on, come on,' she muttered, as though she might compel a fire into existence. This time, the spark caught and held, turning into a small flame, then a larger flame that soon consumed her kindling. I prayed it would take to the wood, or else she was out of luck. Brighter and larger the flame grew, eating the last of the paper and fuzz †¦ and then spreading along the sticks. Lissa blew softly to keep it going, and before long, the campfire was in full blaze. The fire couldn't change the piercing cold, but as far as she was concerned, she had the warmth of the entire sun in her hands. She smiled, and a sense of pride that she hadn't felt in a while spread within her. Finally able to relax, she glanced out at the rainy forest and caught the faintest flashes of color in the distance. Channeling spirit, she used her magic to intensify her ability to see auras. Sure enough–hidden far, far out among the trees, she could see two auras filled with strong, steady colors. Their owners stood still, staying quiet and covered. Lissa's smile grew. Guardians. Or maybe the air and water users controlling the weather. None of the candidates were alone out here. Ronald Ozera had had no need to worry–but then, he wouldn't know that. Only she did. Maybe spirit wasn't so useless out here after all. The rain began to lighten, and the fire's warmth continued to soothe her. She couldn't read the time from the sky, but somehow, she knew she would have no problem waiting out the day and– â€Å"Rose?' A voice summoned me out of Lissa's wilderness survival. â€Å"Rose, wake up or †¦ whatever.' I blinked, focusing on Sydney's face, which was a few inches from mine. â€Å"What?' I demanded. â€Å"Why are you bothering me?' She flinched and jerked away, momentarily speechless. Pulling away Lissa's darkness while joined with her hadn't affected me at the time, but now, conscious in my own body, I felt anger and irritation flood me. It's not you, it's not Sydney, I told myself. It's spirit. Calm down. I took a deep breath, refusing to let spirit master me. I was stronger than it was. I hoped. As I fought to push those feelings down, I looked around and remembered I was in Sonya Karp's bedroom. All my problems came rushing back. There was a bound Strigoi in the other room, one we were barely keeping constrained and who didn't seem like she would give us answers anytime soon. I looked back at Sydney, who still seemed afraid of me. â€Å"I'm sorry †¦ I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just startled.' She hesitated a few moments and then nodded, accepting my apology. As the fear faded from her face, I could see that something else was bothering her. â€Å"What's wrong?' I asked. As long as we were alive and Sonya was still trapped, things couldn't be that bad, right? Sydney stepped back and crossed her arms. â€Å"Victor Dashkov and his brother are here.'